What have you watched recently: Electric Boogaloo

Captain Red Beard

Deleted User wrote: »

Its incomparable to any of his previous stuff

It's very comparable to all of his previous stuff.









Whoosh.

TerrorFirmer

glasso wrote: »

Skyscraper

4/10

Derivative Die Hard with a one-legged Mr Rock.

Watched this myself the other day. Not a great film but to be fair, an entertaining experience throughout, one of those lazy evening films that you expect nothing from and can predict a mile off....but just good, easy viewing.

I haven't watched Isle of Dogs yet. I am a sucker for all kinds of animation and really enjoyed The Fantastic Mister Fox but I think Wes Anderson needs to shake it up a little bit.

Not a big fan of Wes Anderson but it's a very good film.

Another film I watched last night was King Cobra.....a sort of low-budget 'Pain and Gain' set in the world of gay pornography.

Good idea, good setup, and to be fair, good performances from all involved....but just way off mark, doesn't hang right and never really gets going at all unfortunately.

Worth a watch I'd say, and has a surprisingly solid cast for such a cheap indie production - Christian Slater, James Franco, Molly Ringwald, Alicia Silverstone among them, the first two in main roles.

SimonTemplar

Drag Me To Hell

A really enjoyable horror with tons of gross, depraved and dark humour which is very much in Raimi's style. It never takes itself too seriously but doesn't hold back on the more terrifying elements of the story either. I remember seeing this in cinema and the audience had a blast watching it.

SPOILERS....

One thing that struck me while watching it again is how absolutely ferocious and brutal the ending is. Alison Lohman is such a likable presence throughout the movie, and is as cute as a button, so although her demise shouldn't be a surprise for those paying attention, but the shot of her being dragged to hell under the tracks while her boyfriend looks on in terror is really disturbing. It is almost one that would fit into a more serious horror.

Great movie. 4.5/5

Captain Red Beard

Heart beat loud.

It's nice.

Captain Red Beard

.

Tony EH

Tony EH wrote: »

I've a few years on you, but strangely enough I thought 'Ready Player One' was ok. Nothing great, but ok. It's laced here and there with some mild irritation, has a couple of annoying (and rather empty) characters, is wildly mish-mashed together and has a not terribly convincing story. But, it was ok.

Had I paid money for it, I might have a different perspective.

But, all in all, it just suffers from what most cinema does these days, in that it was merely mediocre. Not awful. Not great. Middle-the-roads.

I watched this on a long flight the other day. First 45 minutes I thought it was fantastic, really clever, engaging, fun. When the premise is right its easy to not be bothered by a CGI heavy film. I was thinking jeez those lads were harsh on this. But then it started to get messy and a bit incoherent. Too much madness, fights and chaos losing all its authenticity. With 45 minutes left I couldn't be bothered to watch the end of it at all and switched it off.

tunguska

My Friend Dahmer

Came across this while flicking through the channels last night. Started to watch is and ended up watching it all the way to the end. I knew about Jefferey Dahmer but only in a vague way. This was unsettling, disturbing, brilliantly acted and ultimately very sad. It shows clearly how all of what happened couldve been avoided. But the adults just didnt seem to care there was a deeply disturbed kid in their midst. But a great movie all in all.

Captain Red Beard

Slice. An enjoyable yarn about a pizza shop, the walking dead, witches, a werewolf. Zazie Beetz is in it.

SimonTemplar

The Conjuring

I think the reputation of the original movie in this franchise may have suffered a little due to the numerous sub-par sequels and spin-offs.

But I do think The Conjuring is pretty good movie - well acted by Farmiga, Wilson and Lili Taylor, and the kids are actually quite decent actors too especially Joey King in an early scene involving nothing more than her looking at blackness behind a door. The direction has a little flair to it too with some nice camera movement.

Unlike something like The Descent, I don't think The Conjuring adds anything new to the genre but it does takes familiar tropes and executes them very well. A brief diversion at the family home of Farmiga and Wilson seemed unnecessary and broke the focus of the main haunting.

For me whose seen so many horrors, it works best as a drama/thriller and through that lens, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It didn't really scare me as a horror but I can certainly see why the general movie going public would be scared by it.

And from a budget of $20m, it grossed $320m making it very successful (the result of which are unfortunately the rubbish "conjuring universe" films).

ButtersSuki

Haven't been around in a while but here's some of what I've watched lately:


BLACKkKLANSMAN Talk about over-hyped - and I say this as a massive Spike Lee fan (I own almost everything he's ever made, incl. the MJ Documentary :pac:). It's as subtle as a brick (at best), ham-fisted, and incredibly cliched with how it deals with the subject matter. I've also read the book and it changes a lot from it. I'm sure it very cool woke to like this movie right now and lavish it with praise, but you could pick almost any of Lee's earlier work as better examples of how he deals with race relations and inter-relations - ironically of course most of which the people who like this will never have seen. Denzel's son is like a mini-me at times and is grand; but Jasper Paakkonen (he's in Vikings apparently but I don't recall seeing him in anything previously) stole all of his scenes and most of the movie for me. Adam Driver however was terrible in this. 4/10.


The Equalizer 2 (in a partially filled late night screening complete with a very loud and very drunk couple who attempted to ruin it for everyone before some guy* confronted them and they eventually left). Very disappointed with this as I love Denzel, liked the original a lot and was expecting more. 4/10.
*Thank you to the guy though!


A Prayer Before Dawn based on the recommendations of many on here. Good, but not great - I think it was oversold a little. Still a 6/10.

Ozark Season 2 (cut and paste from the TV thread)

S2 suffers from the same problems (as S1 IMO) - when it's good, it's very good; then it drops the ball with ridiculous sub-plotlines, completely unrealistic time frames, silly characters, bad dialogue, and terrible acting from some of the cast. If it could maintain a higher level of consistency, it could be very good; as it stands it's better than average but not much more than that. The female characters however really came to the fore in this series and are dominant; Janet McTeer in particular is excellent as the Cartel's lawyer. Sad to see Petty go, I really liked his character

who went out in a remarkably similar way as he did in Ray Donovan

and the actor too.

Overall, it's good - but not as good or as clever as it likely thinks itself to be. 6/10.


I'm up to date on Better Call Saul at the moment. It's upped the pace considerably from previous seasons and this season for me is up there with the all time great seasons of any show. If you liked Breaking Bad and haven't for some reason watched this, start. Likewise, if you've lapsed, jump back in. This season is for me a 9/10.

ButtersSuki

Oh yeah, and Rounders last night on Blu Ray as I heard someone say it was 20years old :eek:. I liked it on release more than most and tbh I think I found it better on this rewatch. Pretty amazing cast for the time, and they all look so young...esp. Turturro. Norton is excellent as a sleazeball and Damon is probably at on his career best run with this and Good Will Hunting out roughly around the same year - both are just on the cusp/on the cusp of becoming the names they are today. Gretchen Mol is a doll - she looks simply stunning in this, I'd forgotten how naturally pretty she was. Malkovich's Russian accent (which seemed incredibly OTT at the time) doesn't seem as bad as it did all those years ago. Definitely worth revisiting IMO. 8/10.

bnt

Just watched The Abyss, split over two nights (since it’s nearly three hours long). I’ve never watched the whole thing before, just bits, and there are still some plot holes that have me wondering what the heck was going on. Such as (spoiler) when that Navy Seal goes “off the reservation” and sends that nuclear warhead down in to the abyss, I presume it was a plan to destroy the downed submarine to stop its technology falling in to Soviet hands. Did he forget that said submarine held 191 more of the same type of warhead? I know that such nukes are precision instruments and probably wouldn’t actually explode, but then you’d have all that unspent plutonium released in to the Gulf of Mexico. :eek:

Nerdlingr

Solo

Wasnt great, rather average. Story was a bit rubbish. Annoying robot. Sh*te kessel run. Paint by numbers summer movie, with a star wars tag attached to it.

6/10

NapoleonInRags

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Haven't been around in a while but here's some of what I've watched lately:


BLACKkKLANSMAN Talk about over-hyped - and I say this as a massive Spike Lee fan (I own almost everything he's ever made, incl. the MJ Documentary :pac:). It's as subtle as a brick (at best), ham-fisted, and incredibly cliched with how it deals with the subject matter. I've also read the book and it changes a lot from it. I'm sure it very cool woke to like this movie right now and lavish it with praise, but you could pick almost any of Lee's earlier work as better examples of how he deals with race relations and inter-relations - ironically of course most of which the people who like this will never have seen. Denzel's son is like a mini-me at times and is grand; but Jasper Paakkonen (he's in Vikings apparently but I don't recall seeing him in anything previously) stole all of his scenes and most of the movie for me. Adam Driver however was terrible in this. 4/10.


The Equalizer 2 (in a partially filled late night screening complete with a very loud and very drunk couple who attempted to ruin it for everyone before some guy* confronted them and they eventually left). Very disappointed with this as I love Denzel, liked the original a lot and was expecting more. 4/10.
*Thank you to the guy though!


A Prayer Before Dawn based on the recommendations of many on here. Good, but not great - I think it was oversold a little. Still a 6/10.

Ozark Season 2 (cut and paste from the TV thread)

S2 suffers from the same problems (as S1 IMO) - when it's good, it's very good; then it drops the ball with ridiculous sub-plotlines, completely unrealistic time frames, silly characters, bad dialogue, and terrible acting from some of the cast. If it could maintain a higher level of consistency, it could be very good; as it stands it's better than average but not much more than that. The female characters however really came to the fore in this series and are dominant; Janet McTeer in particular is excellent as the Cartel's lawyer. Sad to see Petty go, I really liked his character Spoiler: who went out in a remarkably similar way as he did in Ray Donovan and the actor too.

Overall, it's good - but not as good or as clever as it likely thinks itself to be. 6/10.


I'm up to date on Better Call Saul at the moment. It's upped the pace considerably from previous seasons and this season for me is up there with the all time great seasons of any show. If you liked Breaking Bad and haven't for some reason watched this, start. Likewise, if you've lapsed, jump back in. This season is for me a 9/10.

That spoiler tag ain't working dude....

ButtersSuki

NapoleonInRags wrote: »

That spoiler tag ain't working dude....

Ok, apologies, I’ll amend it later (on phone now)....but I can’t amend your quote - maybe delete it?

CrankyHaus

Black 47
Engaging story that effectively uses the famine as a backdrop to a revenge western plot with familiar elements. Good acting and excellent use of Irish (about half of the dialogue) to highlight colonial relations. Budget limitations were apparant in some of the outdoors shots of ruined villages, which really let the film down. The music suited the film well thorughout. The performances were solid.
6/10.

ButtersSuki

Blackhat on Blu Ray last night. The worst Michael Mann movie I have ever seen. Hemsworth is wooden. I'd write more but I'm running out the door in a minute. 4/10 - and I'm being generous.

Rivers Edge 1986 Early Keanu Reaves film where a in a small-town a local high school kid murders a girl and no one really cares too much. Its quite enjoyable without really too much happening. Nostalgic 80's film with Dennis Hopper as a guy named "Feck"! Supposed to be kind of a social commentary I guess for the time. Worth a lazy watch. Interesting the 12 year old kid in it created Queen of the South.

Colditz 2005 3 hour 2 part miniseries about a prison camp during WW2 where they sent all the soldiers that had tried to escape from other facilities. Damien Lewis, Tom Hardy, and even....Jason Priestley! Its an interesting story which I can't really say too much about without giving it away, but its all a bit pedestrian. The Germans in it seem decidedly soft. Takes some time to get used to Damien Lewis with a thick Scottish accent too although its a good performance as always from him. Probably you'd need to be a hardened WW2 film enthusiast to be bothered with this

ButtersSuki

Deleted User wrote: »

Colditz 2005 3 hour 2 part miniseries about a prison camp during WW2 where they sent all the soldiers that had tried to escape from other facilities. Damien Lewis, Tom Hardy, and even....Jason Priestley! Its an interesting story which I can't really say too much about without giving it away, but its all a bit pedestrian. The Germans in it seem decidedly soft. Takes some time to get used to Damien Lewis with a thick Scottish accent too although its a good performance as always from him. Probably you'd need to be a hardened WW2 film enthusiast to be bothered with this

Is that on Netflix perchance or does one have to search far and wide for it?

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Is that on Netflix perchance or does one have to search far and wide for it?

Familiar question with the same answer I did do a netflix trial a couple years ago!

joombo

Watched The Meg (2018) last night offshore, was surprisingly better than I was expecting, usual bad decisions, and cheesy acting from Stratham though.

johnny_ultimate

Climax

Four things:

1. Gaspar Noe still uses the sort of shock tactics and provocations only a teenager would find particularly transgressive. His films embrace elements of both pornography and video nasties.

2. Despite the above, the man is still probably the foremost cinematic chronicler of living hells. After the largely tedious misstep that was Love, this is a return to form. There’s a party; there’s something in the sangria; and everything goes to ****. As the characters unravel, the camera becomes increasingly unmoored. By the remarkable, eh, climax the camera is basically defying gravity and drifting between an indistinct mass of gyrating, demented bodies in a sort of drug-fuelled stream-of-consciousness. It’s a beautifully repulsive acid trip you have to see in a cinema, and mercifully shorter than Enter the Void.

3. The dance scene that kicks off the film proper after two trolling false starts is maybe the year’s best scene?

4. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film with a bassier soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL_2PC9l_vM

ButtersSuki

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Climax

Four things:

1. Gaspar Noe still uses the sort of shock tactics and provocations only a teenager would find particularly transgressive. His films embrace elements of both pornography and video nasties.

2. Despite the above, the man is still probably the foremost cinematic chronicler of living hells. After the largely tedious misstep that was Love, this is a return to form. There’s a party; there’s something in the sangria; and everything goes to ****. As the characters unravel, the camera becomes increasingly unmoored. By the remarkable, eh, climax the camera is basically defying gravity and drifting between an indistinct mass of gyrating, demented bodies in a sort of drug-fuelled stream-of-consciousness. It’s a beautifully repulsive acid trip you have to see in a cinema, and mercifully shorter than Enter the Void.

3. The dance scene that kicks off the film proper after two trolling false starts is maybe the year’s best scene?

4. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film with a bassier soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL_2PC9l_vM

Oooh la la!

Scoring your trailer with Cerrone’s “Supernature” and the words Gaspar Noé have me already. Quick glance at the soundtrack to see some old and new French House (with what looks like some new material from Thomas Bangalter, one half of Daft Punk and soundtrack provider for Noé’s Irréversible) draws me further in. Too tired now but will be looking for cinema timings on this later. Thanks for the heads up Johnny, somehow I missed this until now.

ButtersSuki

A Simple Favor I watched this in the cinema last out of curiosity and a weird admiration for director Paul Feig's comedy work. Even still, it was a bit of an effort as I don't particularly like either of the movie's two main stars and central characters played by Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. A quick summary would involve lots of comparisons to Gone Girl, a few to Feig's own Bridesmaids, with some noir tropes and clichés thrown in. It has many holes and is daft in places, but for some reasons it works. It has career-best performances from the two leads (a relative statement I'll readily admit), but it's fun, and it has a nice 60s and 60s-inspired French pop soundtrack too. A very surprising 7/10.


Trailer (which doesn't do it any justice btw):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAqMlh0b2HU

p to the e

Girls Trip

Firstly this was her choice not mine.
Secondly, as soon as I saw a missing apostrophe in the title I knew I was going to struggle.
Thirdly, I am a white, mid 30's, Irish male. I am definitely not the intended demographic for this movie.

There is a few laughs and Tiffany Haddish steals the show but unfortunately after the third "awh hell naw" my interest waned.

ButtersSuki

p to the e wrote: »

Girls Trip

Firstly this was her choice not mine.
Secondly, as soon as I saw a missing apostrophe in the title I knew I was going to struggle.
Thirdly, I am a white, mid 30's, Irish male. I am definitely not the intended demographic for this movie.

There is a few laughs and Tiffany Haddish steals the show but unfortunately after the third "awh hell naw" my interest waned.

So you’re racist and sexist now?

Joke!

joombo

Watched an old classic last night, Wisdom 1986, modern take on the Bonnie and Clyde story with Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore, pretty dated but still relevant point of view.
8/10

p to the e

ButtersSuki wrote: »

So you’re racist and sexist now?

Joke!

You know it!

*high fives

pixelburp

A Simple Favour (2018)

To describe this film as having an inconsistent tone is like saying the Sun is known to be a little hot. It was so erratic , I'm not even sure what the exact intention of this film was: pastiche? Satire? Homage? Or just a genuine attempt at a domestic crime drama? Even within a single scene, there were jarring & sudden swings between Paul Feig's trademark, quasi-improvisational comedy, and boilerplate erotic thriller tropes from the 'Gone Girl' mould, played with an entirely straight face. Neither approach ever lasted long enough to let me reason that, OK, this was definitely either a comedy or thriller, and it culminated in a last act - and plot resolution - that was 100% pure slapstick gags. The audience burst out laughing, myself included, but to be honest it was more out of disbelief than the raw comedy of the moment.

Now, to be fair, I was never once bored: the pace was tight; the plot intriguing in its own right; and the two female leads gave it their all, performances landing somewhere between enthusiastic and scenery chewing. The retro, 60s soundtrack and styling gave it some panache as well, but - that tone. I swear to god it's the first film to have given me whiplash, those changes were so abrupt.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Tom Cruise possibly should have take the title's advice. I kinda liked the first Jack Reacher: it was a decent, faintly old school thriller, embellished by slick direction from Christopher McQuarrie (he of recent Mission Impossible: Fallout fame) with some decent action set-pieces mixed between the 'crime in city hall' plotting.

The sequel though was ... weird. Like, 'contractual obligation' kind of weird. 'Filmed for a tax write-off' kind of weird. Remove the presence of Cruise himself and 'Never Go Back' would be interchangeable with any number of low budget TV pilots / movies from the 90s. Even down to the annoying teenage sidekick. The film traipsed from one drab, flat location to the next (again, like on a TV show, there were so many abandoned warehouses featured here), with the occasional subpar fistfight breaking up the tedium.

ButtersSuki

pixelburp wrote: »

A Simple Favour (2018)

To describe this film as having an inconsistent tone is like saying the Sun is known to be a little hot. It was so erratic , I'm not even sure what the exact intention of this film was: pastiche? Satire? Homage? Or just a genuine attempt at a domestic crime drama? Even within a single scene, there were jarring & sudden swings between Paul Feig's trademark, quasi-improvisational comedy, and boilerplate erotic thriller tropes from the 'Gone Girl' mould, played with an entirely straight face. Neither approach ever lasted long enough to let me reason that, OK, this was definitely either a comedy or thriller, and it culminated in a last act - and plot resolution - that was 100% pure slapstick gags. The audience burst out laughing, myself included, but to be honest it was more out of disbelief than the raw comedy of the moment.

Now, to be fair, I was never once bored: the pace was tight; the plot intriguing in its own right; and the two female leads gave it their all, performances landing somewhere between enthusiastic and scenery chewing. The retro, 60s soundtrack and styling gave it some panache as well, but - that tone. I swear to god it's the first film to have given me whiplash, those changes were so abrupt.

I saw it last Saturday night. It's certainly unique, and I'd imagine it will be pretty divisive amongst audiences and critics in particular; but I found it fun and entertaining....and I say this as primarily an admitted art house/foreign cinema snob!